Mama Ana's Arepas X Fatty's Beer Works

By Charlotte Berger, @CharlotteBergerChs / Images by Emma Waugh, @GirlEatsCharleston

This month our TastmakersCHS team met at Fatty’s Beer Works to try Mama Ana’s Arepas, a pop-up concept from our very own member Ana Richards, serving the Charleston-area mouthwatering Colombian food and particularly (you guessed it) arepas. What are arepas you may ask? The short answer: a dish you must try immediately. The real answer: a Colombian cornmeal cake using three simple ingredients- masa flour, water and salt, sometimes stuffed with cheeses and jams, or topped with meat.

The lovely Ana, which many may know as @beergirlmeetsworld, grew up visiting her mother’s hometown in Cali, Colombia and loved the authentic food there. While in quarantine, she started whipping up Colombian food herself. After realizing the real lack of representation in Colombian cuisine around Charleston, she started selling these magical dough bites for delivery and pickup, and later expanded to doing pop-ups at local restaurants and breweries. You can also find Ana’s arepas on the menu at Herd Provisions. Oh, and did we mention they pair perfectly with beer?!

Columbian hot dog: pickles, mayo, chips, hardboiled eggs and pineapple

Bunuelos with arequipe (caramel sauce)

Fatty’s Beer Works so generously agreed to donate $1 of every pint sold between Nov. 17- Dec. 17 to Courageous Kidz, a nonprofit dedicated to helping families affected by childhood cancer by alleviating stress, creating memorable experiences and allowing families to experience some normalcy. TastemakersCHS is sponsoring local 14-year-old Austin (below) for Christmas through Courageous Kidz, who was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2018.